MSU gallery receives governor’s award

May 23, 2013

The North Dakota Art Gallery at Minot State University received the 2013 North Dakota Governor's Award for the Arts this spring. Linda Olson, pictured, who is division of humanities chair, accepted the award for the art gallery. Olson oversees the North Dakota Art Gallery Association, which provides professional training, while coordinating common information and services for gallery personnel and association members. It recognizes outstanding contemporary, folk and traditional visual artists.

"Someone asked me why I work hard for something without remuneration for so long, over 20 years now. I have to say it goes back to my childhood that was sans formal art creation, although I drew at every opportunity. In my school, Drake Public, three options existed for girls: secretarial courses, home economics or music. I tried to register for shop, seeing an opportunity for creative expression, but that opportunity was reserved for boys," Olson said in a press release. "So, today, I work on behalf of NDAGA to make artworks of style and quality available in the small towns like that where I grew up, knowing that many of the audience members for the exhibitions will be elementary students, knowing that seeing artworks in person somehow removes the mystery and makes an artist's career achievable."